jasn

jesus of montreal - if you want to read subtitles

I thought the show was way too cliche and the charcters were filling stereotypical roles. I thought the controversy around the Jesus character was a bit ridiculous. I think that a lot of Christians have a "personal Jesus" that hangs around. I doubt that most of these "personal Jesus's" are orthodox. For entertainment value, I just do not think a minister who is concerned about improving the community and social justice will keep people coming back. I guess the networks figure there has to be something scintilating to keep people around for an hour. After saying all of this, I may tune in again next week. Also regarding some of the controversy surrounding the show. I think the biblical narrative is clear that God does work in the difficult areas of life. I guess the religious right is comfortable when there is a Leave it to Beaver environment for God to act in not a screwed up family system that Rev. Webster has found himself in.

I do think Pat is losing it b/c of old age. The curious thing to me is that cbn seems to be such a top-down organization that no one over there has the guts to sit him down and get him out of the front of the camera. Surely there are people over there who are embarassed by just about everything that comes out of his mouth.

I am a Myers-Briggs INTP. From what I can remember the population is apparently split 50/50 between E & I. I think that I read that a majority of women are feelers while a majority of men are thinkers and this is the only indicator that is affected by sex. I would agree with an earlier post that discussions in this forum would be attractive to INTP's even though they are the rarest out of the 16 personality types. My wife (a myers-briggs junkie) speculates that most of the people (mostly men) in the conservative baptist seminary that we attended were ESFJ's. This might explain my frustration with my fellow students while in seminary since this is the opposite reading as mine. However, in a recent testing (by a certified tester) of ministers (ecumenical) in our town, almost all of the 15 or so ministers turned out to be introverted. Who knows?

i appreciate the discussion in this thread. i've always felt that the "emergent" movement, even though it did form some needed criticism of the evangelical church, really did not point a way forward. it gives a "this isn't your father's church" look to evangelicalism that excites many people however i do think that the basis for the emergent church is mainly philosophical and not ethical or even theological - not that there have not been positive movements ethically and theologically within some emergent congregations - or would i dare say that many of those who attend "emergent" churches would understand or realize the philosophical trends that fed the movement in saying this i do not think that a change in church life necessarily has to be "pure" to be positive - for example the reformation was as much about nationalism as it was about theology if not more so - the Germans, Bohemians, Swiss, English etc. as a people were ready to move away from the control of the Italian(sometimes French) church i just think that post-modernism taken to its end will end up with something that has no foundational basis at all - this foundational vacuum will be taken up by the istitution that is being created right now - there will be some type of way for the emergent church to define who is in and who is out. i think that the "emergent" movement has already begun assembling its institutional structure that the next church movement will come around to reform what we are seeing now

our church talked about not having services on Christmas but the worship committee decided to have one service at 11:00 and cancel Sunday School we will produce a "home worship packet" that people can use at home with their families if they do not come on Christmas i'm not exactly sure what a home worship packet will look like but i have to come up with something in the next couple of weeks

the most inspiring book that i've read this year is Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. it is the story of Paul Farmer - one of the most Christ-like persons i've read about in a while

Cynthia I have not spent much time on the website except to download the study guide for the different chapters when we have covered a topic with the youth group. I've really wanted to use Amanda Hughes' book in a discussion group with parents of my youth but have never had the chance to organize a setting and time to make it happen. One other website to check out is Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project I attended a symposium for the project which is completed now. Most of the info in the site is geared toward youth ministers but there is a reading list that you should check out. YMSP recommended readings I hope this helps. Good luck. Mine are only 4 and 2 so I have a little time to get ready. Jason

Try Way to Live:Christian Practices for Teens by Dorothy Bass- I have used numerous ideas and projects from this book with our youth group. For more info, there is a website and if you want to order:Way to Live A great book for you to read as a parent of a teen is Lost and Found:Adolescence, Parenting and the Formation of Faith by Amanda Hughes

i've heard the recent explanation that God's power is always relational and never from a place of coercion i just can't remember where i saw this recently (borg?) allows you to keep the "all" in all-powerful and still lets you have faith after watching the news this week (maybe)

At least it's encouraging to know that they haven't abandoned the consumer spirit that America holds so dear. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The cynical part of me says that surely there are some developers or real estate people that are a part of this project.

I checked out the site and the great thing about the Christian Exodus is that they sell gear. They have a polo shirt available for sale. I guess I will not have to wait until the last minute for my Christmas shopping. Let me know if any of you want bumper stickers and I will keep you in mind when I make my order.

Surely Pastor Eliff does not believe what he says? This must be rhetoric to get his name in the news. But if anyone is regenerate, I guess we can start with the SBC, but for different reasons than are presented above. I'm worried about those who are in attendance on Sunday and Wednesday night.

There was a short article in the edition before last of Christian Century re: open theology and I came away from the article with the same impressions you gave north - that it is resulting from literalism. I also felt that (from my limited understanding) there is also a need for open theology's supporters to keep an omnipotent God and to keep ideas that are consistent with a literal reading of the texts. The omnipotence just does not extend into the future. Open theology seems to take a different track than process because of the concern with omnipotence and being a biblical (textual) theology. I wonder which is more of a red flag for the conservatives, the attack on God's omnipotence or the straying away from traditional prooftexting of God's all-knowing being extended into the future? Open theists would say they are using the text to make their points, they are just using the wrong texts to understand God according to certain people

i think that McCarthianism did not help how the avg. american thought about someone different from themselves - but i think that thinking seemed to stay focused around political areas (especially trying to find a communist behind every bush), but surely there were some overlaps into the religious realm - McCarthy manipulated the fear of people for political gain. his tactics are not much different than those in the house wanting to run this flag burning amendment through i think america, throughout its history, has had a problem with cults, one example is the history of mormonism, they finally had to set up shop where there were no other people because everyone would run them out of town - jw and seventh day adventists have had their troubles with the establishment it seems that early on in american history, certain groups carved out their spot - baptists and methodists in the south, catholics in maryland and louisiana, congregationalists in new england, reformed in michigan etc., and they would often use "unchristian" means of keeping their turf - we are definitely less geographical in our understanings of denominationalism but we do seem to still separate along racial and socio-economic divisions i guess the positive is that the era of denominations is supposedly coming to an end - i just hope it will not be replaced by political divisions instead